Alliance Secretariat supports major conference on financial crime linked to nature crime

The Nature Crime Alliance Secretariat participated in a major summit aimed at furthering knowledge on environmental crime and related money laundering.

Lynn Schlingemann, Senior Associate, Financial Crime and Corruption, Nature Crime Alliance, chaired the conference: ‘Clean Earth, Clean Money: Unmasking Environmental Crimes and Money Laundering’, which was organised by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Latvia in a partnership with the FIU of Iceland.

Schlingemann also supported the FIUs in preparing for the session, providing insights on speakers and programming – part of the Nature Crime Alliance’s mission to raise awareness of this critical issue.

The conference, which took place in Riga across 24 and 25 March, explored financial crimes linked to a range of offences including illegal deforestation, mining, fisheries, waste, and pollution crimes. Key regulatory frameworks relevant for the EU, such as the Environmental Crime Directive and EU Deforestation Regulation, were also discussed.

More than 180 participants from European FIU’s, local law enforcement, supervisory bodies, industry experts, and public and private sector representatives participated in the conference, alongside government representatives from Liechtenstein, Germany, Malta, Albania, Romania, Norway, Croatia, UK, US, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Monaco, Poland, Luxembourg, Vietnam, Kenya, Spain, India and Ghana.

Schlingemann commented: “Environmental crimes harm wildlife, poison ecosystems, and fuel the climate crisis. They also deprive countries of revenues, and fund cartels, militias and terrorist groups, threatening peace and security around the world. The illegal plundering of natural resources often takes place with impunity, with billions laundered annually through corporate crimes, undermining legal businesses.

“Through this unique conference, the Financial Intelligence Units of Latvia and Iceland are paving the way for multi-sector collaboration by bringing together law enforcement authorities and experts from the public and private sectors to explore ways to dismantle these crimes.”

Find out more about the Nature Crime Alliance’s work on financial crimes linked to nature crime.